Letting Go

One of the hardest decisions we humans have to make with our animal friends is knowing when it is time to let go.  What a strange thing it is to have this power over another life, and a life we care about so much.  Strange especially because in our society, death is often an unsure, scary thing, and we feel immense guilt over the possibility of making the wrong decision for our friends.

I was faced with this decision myself this winter as my cat struggled to leave this life.  She was clearly at the end, but the message she kept giving me was "I can do this, I don't need help yet."  How hard that can be to hear when we watch our friends apparently suffering!  I kept asking "are you sure?"  I even called a communicator friend to double check.  Haley's response to me was "it isn't how it looks to you."  Ok, I'm learning that many things aren't what I think they are in life, but this seemed pretty clear cut.  She went on to explain that there is a process of leaving the body, leaving this earth, that is very important in the animal kingdom.  Most animals view death quite differently from we humans, and for them it is simply a transition out of the physical plane into the etheric - a change of state, something like when a liquid becomes a gas, but is still composed of the same atoms (please don't let my high school chemistry teacher read this sorry comparison!).

The body is a shell, nothing more.. 

The animals have learned what is so very hard for we humans - that we are not our bodies.  We are something much greater.  A Divine spark, a soul, a energetic being so complex that the greatest minds have tried to pin down this essence, describe it, and found words paltry and useless.   

So, if it isn't how it looks to me, how is it??  Transitioning can be tricky, it can involve the tying up of loose ends, the coming to terms with things undone, the setting right, the permission of the human or animal friends to let go, or simply, the readying of one's self to go.  It is an important process, and because humans are someone detached from this process with our scientific and religious "brain information" often leading the way, it is hard for us to grasp.  Or maybe it's just hard to grasp until you've been there.  I think my grandfathers both went through something like this, each in their own way.  It didn't look painful in their cases, but it's not in every animal's case either.  I thought I saw suffering, but what Haley was telling me, was that she had moved beyond physical pain to a great extent.  The crying and movements of her body were her soul's efforts at detaching - some animals seem to be more in their body's than others and find it takes more effort to let go.  It is almost like the struggle of a butterfly to break free from its cocoon or a chick to hatch from its egg, and the journey is different for each soul.

This was radical news to me, but not the only time I've heard it by any means.  It is repeated over and over by numerous animals and communicators, and even in human hospices and hospitals.  Dying is a personal process, and not for us to judge.  The tricky thing is that when it comes to our pets, we sometimes do have to judge.  This is where intuitive communication is such a tremendous gift - it give the ability to tune into what the animal's soul is saying, to move past the anxiety, grief, and fear of our worried human brains.  The animals tell me that we often rush them, our desire to not see them suffer pushes them faster than they'd like to go.  On the other hand, they are usually ok with this and fully understand WHY we rush, they are tolerant of our fear.  I rushed Haley - not too much, but I did. I finally could not take it any more, and asked her again if she needed help, and she said it would be ok to have some help.  I knew it was time, the vet knew it was time, and Haley knew it was time, she was just a little drawn out in the process.  When I connected with her after it was over, several days later, she told me she was very near the end when the vet came, and that it was alright.  She transitioned easily and was doing fine.  If I could give that feeling of relief, of gratitude, to everyone, everywhere, I would gladly do it.  What gifts they give to us, and continue to give, even in another form.  Know that when the time comes, if you have to make a decision to help your friend to cross over, you will do the right thing.  Help is there if you need it, but above all, listen to your heart, it feels what your friend needs, and you will not go wrong.